Displaced Garden is a docufiction animation about human and non-human displacement that integrates documentary quotes from oral histories of internally displaced people from Donbas.
At dawn a truck carrying many carefully arranged houseplants departs from a small town. It is unclear where it is coming from and where it is heading. During the journey people and plants are picked up and brought into the truck. At first the passengers seem to have nothing in common. The truck is crossing fields, groves, and the fragrant steppe, and out of a sleepy heat of the land passengers’ memories emerge. Maryna, a young woman, enthusiastically tells us about her first strawberry harvest. Kostya, her son, shares a story about hiding amidst corn plants, while stealing watermelons with friends. Ivan, a young man, remembers his grandmother. The trip feels like a summer adventure: the taste of watermelons and a sound of sighing. Suddenly the truck arrives at a checkpoint and is inspected by the military. The rest of the trip feels anxious, memories become darker. At night the truck enters a forest, and it becomes clear that not all passengers will continue the journey.
Director’s statement
'Displaced Garden' is a story about human-plant relations and forced displacement. Seamlessly blending fiction and documentary, it is based on oral history research with internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Donbas, Ukraine, where the war broke out in 2014. The film brings to the fore the underrepresented mundane experiences of IDPs, and by exploring them through human-plant relations avoids their victimisation, as well as offering a non-anthropocentric multispecies view of migration. Human characters, designed as unfinished watercolor drawings, will be animated through a traditional hand-drawn technique, using 2D animation software and digital watercolor brushes. Plants are portrayed as protagonists through detailed pencil drawings - plant portraits, animated using cut-out
technique. Backgrounds are created with screen-print-like textures made of documentary photos. These mixed techniques refer to film's origin in the documentary material and replicate fractures and unevenness of memory and remembering.
Country of production
Ukraine
Target audience
18+
Production company
yutopia filmsEstimated budget
EUR 41 625
Funding secured
6000, Ukrainian State Film Agency, Ukraine
Stage of the project
In pre-production
Looking for
Co-producer, Sales agent / distributor, Festival representative, Animator(s)